New methods for better understand Alzheimer's
(rescue neuronal function)
(rescue neuronal function)
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In experiments using a series of model organisms, including yeast, microscopic roundworms and rats, the researchers show how basic mechanisms inside cells are disrupted when a specific human protein, known as the amyloid beta peptide, fails to properly fold. This study also shows the role a second protein, referred to by the scientists as PICALM, can play in modifying the problem.
"By using these yeast models, in combination with worms, we really are hopeful of finding a way by which we can understand and maybe combat Alzheimer's disease more rapidly," said Dr. Guy Caldwell, professor of biological sciences at The University of Alabama and one of three UA-authors on the Sciencearticle.
The research involved scientists from several universities and research institutes, including the Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the lead author, Dr. Sebastian Treusch, is affiliated. Treusch works in the lab of Dr. Susan Lindquist, a renowned expert in cell biology and collaborator with Caldwell on a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute that funded part of this research.
While the repeated misfoldings of amyloid beta peptides within the human brain were previously known to trigger the death of neurons, resulting in Alzheimer's, Caldwell says the underlying mechanisms of toxicity weren't as well understood. Continue to read: sciencedaily.com
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